Price railway



(NoModeL) PRICE.

RAIL JOINT.

Patented July 11, 1893.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES M. PRICE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE PRICERAILWAY APPLIANCE OOMPANY, OF PENNSYLVANIA.

' RAIL-JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent N0. 501,161, dated July 11,1893.

Application filed September 17, 1892- Se'rial No. 446.360. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J AMES M. PRICE,a citizen of the United States,residing in the city and county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Rail-Joints, whichimprovement is fully set forth in the following specification andaccompanying drawings.

My invention relates to an improvement in rail joints for the securingperfectly together of the ends of railway rails, where two of theserails of any section come together and form that far a continuous railof that track.

The invention consists of two joint plates of metal, binding the meetingflanges of two adjacent rails so firmly together by the action of boltsand nuts, attaching each joint plate to its fellow as to constitute withthis a substantial rail joint, the construction of the parts beinghereinafter described.

' Figures 1 and 3 represent views of opposite sides of a rail jointembodying my invention. Fig. 2 represents a top or plan view thereof.Fig. 4 represents a vertical section thereof showing also the rail inposition. Fig. 5 rep resents a side elevation, including also the bolts,nuts and ties, all on a reduced scale.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

Referring to the drawings: A designates a joint plate cast or stamped inone piece, and composed of four principal and contributing parts, eachwith a function and purpose of its own, namely, a vertical arched plateor girder B, outside of the rail flange, and with ends flattened out andbroadened into feet 0, resting upon two adjacent ties D. A suspendedhorizontal foot E reaches from tie to tie, and terminates in a slantingbrace or knee F, attached to and depending from the feet of the plate orgirder upon the ties. The jaws G or combined bench and vise are formedon one side of the plate A supporting and. compressing the flanges ofthe rails, and a group of ribs H surrounding and embracing the jointplate from the upper surface of this vise to the upper edge of thevertical arched plate or girder, and then descending outside of thevertical arched plate, they reach and merge into the external edge ofthe horizontal foot of the joint plate. These ribs may run vertically tothe base of the rails inclosed in the joint proposed, or theyv may beradialor concentric. From the upper inside surface of the'foot of thejoint plate rise thin upright piers J, to the bottom of the metallic jawcarrying the rails.

The portion of the vertical arched plate or girder, which reaches belowthesurface level of the cross-ties carrying its feet, is pierced atproper intervals for the passage of the bolts which bind the jointplates together when carrying the flanges of two meeting rails, so incombination with them as to constitute a sound, strong and substantialjoint. It will be observed that this combination of parts leads to aunion of light material into a whole of remarkable strength. That is,the plate, ribs, bench, vise and piers while all of thin metal are soshaped in contour, and so placed relatively as to acquire, with butmoderate use of 'metal, enormous strength when combined into one piece,as a whole. If made of cast steel orof malleable ir0n,it will be noticedthat the action of fire in their manufacture is complete at every point,whether for annealing or for rendering malleable, by reason of itsaccess to and around all parts. The slanting ends of the horizontal footadd much to the strength of the vertical plate or girder, and the ribsembracing all parts, preclude the opening of'the jawin which the flangesof the rails are seated.

Fig. 3, represents a modification of myinvention, to adapt it to the useof such railroads as may desire to employ a tie plate under the railsupon every tie. In this it will be seen by the dotted lines at K, thatthe feet of the ribbed plate j oint-which is the subject of thisapplication, are so thickened and shaped upon the tie as to placebeneath the rails at that point, a thickness of metal identical withthat of the tie plate to be used, thus prolonging the jaw in which theflanges of the rails are seated to the ends of the joint plate on eachside, in such manner that the joint carries the? flange of the railthroughout its length.

Having thus described my invention, what I I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, isa 1. A metallic joint plate consisting ofavertioal plate or girder, rounded or arched centrally so as to riseabove the ends, which are flattened out with horizontal under surface, asuspended foot or horizontal table starting at right angles from theedge of the vertical plate, and carrying upon thin piers, a bench, whoserounding edge is shaped into a strong clamp or vise, so shaped as topress firmly down upon arail flange seated upon the bench,

. the whole surrounded or embraced by a group of thin, converging ribs,all in one piece, as the half of a rail joint plate supporting twomeeting rails, substantially as described.

2. A metallic joint plate in one piece combining a vertical plate orweb, reaching from one cross tie to another, its ends shaped intohorizontal feet resting upon the ties, while between these, three ledgesproject inwardly, the uppermost a vise bearing down upon meeting flangesof two rails supported by the mid dle one, a bench carried by piersarising from the lowest of the three, and by slanting knees which reachfrom the'bench downward to the third projection or foot, the wholeembraced by encircling ribs, and each plate bound to its fellow, so asto carry the rails from tie to tie, by bolts passing through properholes near the bottom of the vertical plates, as a rail joint,substantially as described.

3. A rail joint consisting of two horizontal metallic plates attachededgewise to a longer vertical plate with flattened ends resting as feetupon two adjacent cross ties, the parallel plates connected by piers andslanting ends, so that the lower carries the upper as a bench to supportthe flanges of two meeting railway rails, while a third projection fromthe Vertical plate or girder constitutes a vise bearing firmly down uponthe top of the flanges and encircling ribs to bind all parts together inone whole, which is joined to its fellow when in use, by boltstraversing the lower part of the vertical plates, thus combining to makea railway joint, substantially as described.

4:. A rail joint consisting of metal shaped into a jaw closely fittingthe flange of a railway rail, and supported by a horizontal footcarrying this jaw upon piers, the jaw and the foot both attached to avertical plate suspended between two cross ties by, and upon, flattenedends resting upon the ties, and all parts embraced and strengthened byencircling ribs, in one piece or plate, attached,

when in use as a joint, to its fellow by bolts traversing the verticalplates, substantially as described.

5. A metallic jaw consisting of a horizontal bench attached by roundedborder or side to an overhanging vise, the space between bench and viseso shaped as to [it the flange of a railway rail, the combined jawsupported. upon piers vertical and slanting rising from the surface of ahorizontal foot, bench, vise and foot attached to a vertical plate orgirder of arched or rounded upper contour, and with flattened endsseated as feet upon adjacent cross ties, the whole structure embraced byexterior ribs, all in one piece, with bolt holes near the base of thevertical plate, through which this metallic jaw containing the flangesof two meeting rails is so bound to its fellow as to constitute a railjoint, carrying the rails from tie to tie, substantially as described.

6. A joint plate of metal, consisting of a vertical plate or girder withrounded upper surface and bolt holes through which bolts attach it toits fellow, when carrying two meeting rails, as a rail joint, betweentwo jaws projecting from its side, the one a bench supported upon piersseated 011 a horizontal foot also attached to the vertical plate, theother a vise bearing down upon the flanges of thecarried rails, withexterior ribs reaching across the joint plate from the surface of thevise to the vertical plate, and from the top of the vertical plate tothe outer edge of the foot at its base, substantially as described.

7. A metallic joint plate in one piece, consisting of a horizontal jawto carry the flanges of two meeting rails from end to end of the jointplate, composed of a bench running its whole length and a vise bearingdown upon the flanges, attached at one side to a vertical plate,withencirclingribs embracing the bench and vise, and the suspended footbetween the ties from which piers arise to the bench to support it, andcorresponding in the thickness of the metal upon the wooden ties andunder the rails to that of tie plates used therewith, substantially asdescribed.

JAMES M. PRICE. Witnesses:

JOHN A. WmDERsI-IEIM, R. H. GRAESER.

